Scientists say they can find melted reactor fuel

Muons hold key, team believes, but authorities have yet to seek their help to peer inside crippled reactors

One major mystery — and a source of serious concern — at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant is the exact location of the molten fuel from reactors 1, 2 and 3.

Hindered by the dangerously high radiation coming from the melted rods, Tokyo Electric Power Co. can’t determine where the fuel came to rest. Tepco does say, however, that computer simulations indicate the fuel should still be inside the reactors’ primary containment vessels.

One solution may be found with a Nagoya-based scientist group that is working on capturing images from inside nuclear plant reactors, much like X-ray photos, by using muon cosmic rays.

The scientists say this could help Tepco determine the location of the fuel and accelerate the effort to dismantle the crippled reactors.

BUT…

Nagamine’s team likewise hasn’t been asked by Tepco or the government to help out at Fukushima, said a spokesman for the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization.

171 Left Jobless in Disaster Areas after Unemployment Benefit Expires

Tokyo, Jan. 20 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese labor ministry said Friday that 171 people remained unemployed as of Jan. 13 in the three northeastern prefectures ravaged by the earthquake and tsunami last March after their unemployment benefit expired the previous day.

Under a special measure adopted in May, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare extended the benefit for jobless people in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures for 60 days to a total of 120 days.
In October, the ministry extended the benefit for 90 more days for residents in coastal areas hit by monster tsunami triggered by the 9.0-magnitude quake on March 11.
By Jan. 12, when the unemployment benefit was terminated, 630 people had received payments. Of them, only 459 had secured jobs, the ministry said.

(2012/01/20-16:56)

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Radioactive cesium content higher in Fukushima fruits, mushrooms

2012/01/20

The price tags of vegetables and fruits grown in Fukushima Prefecture display information about detected cesium levels at a store in Tokyo. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Households that consumed relatively large quantities of fruits and mushrooms produced in Fukushima Prefecture tended to ingest more radioactive cesium in their food than those who did not, according to a joint study by The Asahi Shimbun and Kyoto University.

(At Least) 1,100 Tonnes of Highly Contaminated Water Found in Trenches at #Fukushima I Nuke Plant

No, this is not April 2011 when they found water whose surface radiation exceeded 1000 millisieverts/hour. (We weren’t told how high it was, as their survey meter went overscale.)

TEPCO, ever since they found water leaking into the ocean from the evaporative condensation apparatus (desalination process) in December, has been checking the trenches that they know exist in the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant compound, and just about everywhere they look they are finding contaminated water of varying radioactivity in indeterminable amount.

TEPCO urged to compensate for tainted building material in Fukushima

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Industry minister Yukio Edano on Friday promised the mayor of a city where crushed stone believed to be contaminated due to the Fukushima nuclear crisis were used for some buildings that he will instruct Tokyo Electric Power Co. to pay compensation for related damage.

Nuclear Aftershocks is a new FRONTLINE documentary, airing tomorrow, January 17, at 10:00 pm Eastern. I watched an advance screener yesterday.

About halfway through Nuclear Aftershocks, a new FRONTLINE documentary about the physical and social fallout of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, it becomes clear that correspondent Miles O’Brien and his production team are really going to piss some people off. In the best possible way.